The settlement came in a class-action lawsuit filed by the freelancers against publishers and database companies. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York had thrown the agreement out, but the high court on Monday agreed to hear an appeal of that decision.

The proposed settlement covers both freelancers who registered the copyright to their works and those who didn't. The appeals court said courts generally do not have authority over infringement claims on works that have not been copyrighted.

The lawsuit followed a Supreme Court ruling in 2001 that freelance writers have online rights to their work. The case largely applied to articles, photographs and illustrations that were produced 15 or more years ago, before freelance contracts provided for the material's electronic use.

The case is Reed Elsevier v. Pogebrin, 08-103.

Al-Marri has been held in a Navy brig outside Charleston, S.C. for more than 5 years since President George W. Bush declared him an enemy combatant.

He will now be transferred to Illinois to face trial in a civilian court on charges of providing material support to terrorism.

Before the indictment, the Al-Marri case was headed to the Supreme Court.

The court is considering whether the president has the authority to order the arrest of terror suspects in the United States and hold them indefinitely without bringing charges.

American-born Christopher Paul was to be sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Frost after pleading guilty in June to one count of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction in terrorist attacks.

Paul, 44, was accused of joining al-Qaida in the early 1990s and helping teach fellow Muslim extremists how to bomb U.S. and European targets. Prosecutors agreed to drop charges of providing material support to terrorists and conspiracy to provide support to terrorists.

The Justice Department accused Paul and two other men of discussing terrorist attacks during an August 2002 meeting at the Caribou Cafe coffee shop in Upper Arlington.

The other two also pleaded guilty: Nuradin Abdi in 2007 in connection with an alleged plot to blow up an Ohio shopping mall, and Iyman Faris in 2003 in connection with an alleged plot to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge.

Instead of reporting to federal prison last June for bilking millions from his investors, Samuel Israel faked his suicide and took off in an RV for nearly a month before surrendering.

The 49-year-old Israel has spent months getting a physical and psychological checkup at a prison hospital in Ayer, Mass. A federal judge ordered the evaluation to help him decide whether Israel is competent to plead guilty to going on the lam before a court date set for Friday.

The judge refused to accept the plea last year when Israel told him that treatment for his addiction to painkillers had impaired his thinking.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston ordered last week that the answers provided on the forms, which are intended to root out bias in selecting a jury, should be off limits to the public. There are more than 60 questions on the forms including potential jurors' opinion of Bonds and whether they've followed the issue of steroid use in professional sports.

The forms also include a potential juror's name, age, gender, level of education, job, criminal record and any ethical, religious or political views that would influence the juror's decision making, as well as other personal information.

The Associated Press, ESPN, Hearst Corp., The New York Times Co., ABC-subsidiary KGO, KNTV Television Inc., NBC subsidiary KNBC-TV, The Los Angeles Times, the Medianews Group and Sports Illustrated publisher Time Inc. filed court papers seeking public access to the forms.

Media company lawyers argued that the questionnaires should be considered part of the jury-selection process, which is required to be done in open court. The lawyers noted that neither Bonds' lawyers nor federal prosecutors have asked the judge to seal the documents.

"Here, there is no valid basis for keeping the public in the dark about the answers provided by prospective and trial jurors," the papers stated.

The home run king's trial begins Monday, when potential jurors throughout the Bay Area are summoned to the federal courthouse in San Francisco to fill out the forms. The slugger's lawyers, prosecutors and the judge will question them in person about their answers beginning on Tuesday.

Supreme Court justices take two oaths before assuming the bench. In recent years, several justices took one of the oaths at the White House with the president in attendance.

Stevens, who is the oldest sitting justice, called that "inappropriate symbolism." Justices are supposed to be independent of politics and the White House.

He says that is why he refuses to attend Supreme Court ceremonies at the White House. He called on future nominees and future presidents to end the modern practice of having taking one of oaths done at the White House.